Updated On: 15 August, 2019 11:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Mayank Shekhar
Most movies suffer from what's called the 'curse of the second half'. Mission Mangal is a rare one that reverses that principle. It gets much better towards the end!

Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan in a still from Mission Mangal

This is actually a pretty sweet, syrupy film, in a schmaltzy sort of way, full of Hallmark card type quotable quotes, on success and life, and all that jazz. To a point that you may even forget sometimes that it's entirely a space-mission movie to begin with. And, indeed India's first of its kind.
What kind, specifically? Detailing how scientists at the cash-strapped Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) managed to pull off the world's first take-off to Mars on its maiden attempt, in 2013, and in fact became the first Asian country to do so. The mission was named MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission); in Hindi, Mangalyaan.